I believe that most folks think that their stories are dull and boring so why would anyone be interested in hearing mine?  I suppose that can be true (at least to us) unless we take a moment to understand and look back at how God shows up throughout our lives and we can see it so clearly in our rearview mirrors and share that story with others for encouragement to them and for reflection for us.  That is the reason I’m writing this, so that you might take the time to look in your rearview mirror and discover just how many blessings the Lord has given you over the years.

I was born in 1959 in Bakersfield CA. My mom was a corporate secretary and my dad a mechanic and newspaper route delivery man. My early family life was difficult since my brother died of valley fever when I was 5 years old, and my parents struggled to deal with their grief.  I have a wonderful sister, Vicki, who always made me crack up laughing at the dinner table. We’ve stayed connected throughout all these years and she has blessed my life richly. She is married to Dave, a Coast Guard veteran, and together they had a son, William. William has a wife Nancy, and two children. William and I had great fun driving RC cars together in my neighborhood in Tehachapi, where I even built a dirt track in my backyard for us to race on.

My parents were always supportive of me and showed up to all my concerts, scouting events, tennis matches, drum lessons and more. They held awesome birthday parties for me throughout the years and spoiled me way too much.  I was in tennis in high school and college, and I remember them in the stands for all my games. I was quite the emotional man and they had to put up with me dating one girl after another until I finally settled down and started dating a girl named Trisha.  I somehow talked this girl into marrying me and I spent 37 years with her raising three children, until cancer gave her an early graduation to heaven.  As long as they were with us my mom and dad were a blessing in our family’s life.   My parents bought the house that I grew up in before I was born and later, I helped my mom sell it and move her, alone, to Tehachapi after my dad passed away.  I was 32 years young.  My mom helped us raise our kids and was a true blessing to us all. We lived in Tehachapi for a total of 14 years before moving to Colorado Springs. The Lord showed up again throughout that entire journey as He does today.   

An important part of my journey was and is music.  I have played drums since I was 9 years old, and the Lord used this in my life in so many ways.  I met Trisha, my 1st wife in college playing the drums in marching band.  I played everything percussion.  Tympany, drum set, marching tri-toms, snare, etc.  Being in so many different groups kept me out of trouble growing up. In my 30’s I started to play drum set in praise teams worshiping the Lord and have ever since.  Looking back, I can see how drumming gave me a purpose and focus and confidence in life that helped me in my career and everything else I have done.  This was and is the Lord’s way of blessing me and blessing others through me with my music.  After the passing of Trisha, I met a wonderful woman who watched me play drums at church and our story moves on from that point.  Bonnie loves my drumming and I continue to play occasionally in the church we currently attend. Please see the “New Journey” pages for Bonnie and my journey and how our meeting and love story is no accident.   I hope to be using my sticks for Jesus as long as I am able.

I have a degree in business management and have found it useful throughout the years of working for myself both as a loan officer and Realtor®.  My career in real estate began as a loan officer for Norwest Mortgage.  It wasn’t my plan to work in real estate, but when it was offered to me, I jumped right in.  After a couple of years, I opened a satellite branch with Mical Mortgage.  The powers at be closed Mical down and I went into real estate opening my own company with a partner.  Innovative Real Estate was truly innovative.  I later joined forces with Al Crisalli of Cardinal Realtors and stayed there until our move to Colorado Springs.  After moving to the Springs, I joined REMAX in a team with Ron Mast which later became Morning Star Realty. I moved to Sellstate Alliance Realty and happily stayed there for 12 years before opening Illumin8 Real Estate with my wife, Bonnie. 

We love traveling and part of this website will be about our journey driving around the country in our Class A motorhome.  I plan on staying in real estate and coming alongside Bonnie with her fix-and-flip real estate business.  We have different backgrounds, and our clients can benefit from our combined experience.

Both of our hearts long to give back to those in need and who are fulfilling a purpose God would be pleased with, so we support several organizations and missionaries out of the abundance He provided to us. I will share more about this on our website.  I would love to share how Jesus came into my life and changed the direction of my life long ago with you.  Just drop me a note.  My life has been blessed with 3 children, 3 stepchildren, 5 grandchildren, and 8 step grandchildren at this point.  I’m a blessed man and I am excited about what the future holds for us all.  Our new journey is unfolding, and we look forward to sharing it with you.  Click this link to see how the Lord is blessing us today and as we journey through our new lives.